1881.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
527 
The Short-leaved Skullcap. 
The Skullcaps, of which, take the country 
through, we have some twenty species, are 
mostly rather weedy-looking plants, though 
some, like the one here figured, are worthy 
of a place in the garden. The botanical 
name, Scutellaria (from the Latin for dish), 
and the common name, are both suggested 
by the peculiar form of the calyx, which is 
flute grafting or budding is generally fol¬ 
lowed, but one who has had no practice with 
this, would be very apt to fail, as it often 
does in the hands of skilled workmen. E. 
Clausen describes in a recent “ Revue Horti- 
cole,” a method which has given him such 
good results that he makes it known. He 
grafts in the latter part of June, or when the 
shoots of the season are sufficiently mature, 
as it is these which serve for both stock and 
disk, or central portion of the flower-cluster, 
condemned it in the florist’s eye. Now all 
this is changed, the old tall Double Dahlia is 
cultivated by comparatively few; it gave way 
to a dwarf set, more easily cared for, called 
Bouquet Dahlias, and these in turn are being 
supplanted by the Single Dahlia, which is 
now regarded as “the coming flower” in 
popular esteem. These single Dahlias are not 
all single forms of the old double flower, 
brevifolia). single dahlias 
cion. He makes an incision down through 
the center of the terminal bud, and about an 
inch and a half long. The cion is a shoot of 
the current season, containing a terminal bud 
only ; it is cut wedge-shape, and carefully in¬ 
serted in the cleft of the stock. When the 
cion is properly fitted, it is carefully wound 
with woollen yam, waxing of any kind being 
thought unnecessary. To shade the graft sev¬ 
eral of the leaves on the stock below the in¬ 
sertion are brought together and tied above 
it in such a manner as to afford it protection 
from the sun and wind. Mr. C. considers 
this shading essential to success ; and it is 
all the more necessary with us. 
The Single Dahlias. 
It is curious to observe how flower fashions 
change. When that most artificial of all 
flowers, the Dahlia, was popular, the more 
formal it was, and the nearer in shape to a 
globe the more highly it was prized. No 
matter what beauty of color or other quality 
it might possess, the least showing of the 
■ Dahlia lutea (larger); Dahlia glabrata (smaller). 
Dahlia variabilis, but distinct species such 
as Dahlia coccinea, D. glabrata, etc., have 
been introduced into cultivation. These 
single kinds are of low compact form, and 
hence do not require so much care in tying 
as the others. Their flowers are of small 
size, and are produced most abundantly. 
Their ray-flowers (popularly known as petals), 
are large, and present a wide range of colors, 
from pure white, through various scarlets, 
purples, and yellows, to the deepest maroon, 
while in some the velvety texture is of great 
richness. The center, or disk, is small in 
proportion to the rest of the flower, and al¬ 
ways yellow ; this, which was formerly re¬ 
gained as such a blemish in the Dahlia, is 
now found by contrast to greatly highten 
the effect of the rest of the flower. 
The species have broken into a great num¬ 
ber of varieties, with florist’s names. These 
Dahlias are of easy cultivation, and grow 
readily from cuttings, and also from the 
divisions of the root. They are well suited 
to forming masses in the garden where they 
are very effective, either in clumps by them- 
the short-leaved SKULLCAP ( Scutellaria 
strongly two-lipped. After the flower falls, 
one of these lips shuts down over the other, 
and the whole looks like a miniature hel¬ 
met or skullcap. The “ Short-leaved Skull¬ 
cap,” which is the one engraved (<$'. brevi- 
folia), is a native of Texas, near Dallas. 
It is less than a foot high, has a compact 
form, and produces its blue flowers quite 
abundantly, and all summer long. While 
these flowers are not very large, the small 
size of the leaves allows them to show con¬ 
spicuously. Flowers of a fine blue color are 
so few that an addition to the list is welcome, 
and this, though not a remarkably showy 
plant, is neat and pleasing, and is moreover 
such a persistent bloomer, that it is well 
worth having in a collection of hardy plants. 
Cjirsirtirng- tSae CBsesmiii.—Many who 
find trees, the nuts of which are unusually fine 
and large, naturally desire to propagate them. 
They try the methods used with ordinary 
fruit trees, and rarely succeed, and we are 
frequently asked how the grafting should 
be done. In Europe the method known as 
